Gutted - and a bit panicked!

[Spice17]

Had Antenatal class this morning where it became apparent to me that there are 2 totally separate options at my local hospital for delivery and I?m gutted and now feeling quite anxious again. Also, feel like MW hasn?t even mentioned it before at appts and should have been discussed already (am 34+5)

In ?The Birth suite? there are 4 rooms (you have to book) and only ONE water pool. The other option is in a room, on a bed, chair, ball or whatever with various drugs available inc Epidural. Maybe I?m really naive but I really hadn?t realised it would be a choice between one or the other or that there is only one pool.

A water birth was my no. 1 choice but now I think even if I book I may not get the pool anyway and I was also under the impression that I would be able to at least try few different things (e.g. pool for a bit, if in too much pain, maybe get out and have an epidural) but clearly not.

So it looks like I have to make a decision as to whether I ?think? I can bear it (for the sake of MAYBE getting the water birth I wanted) and it?s really stressed me out!

Sorry if I sound like a diva but I was feeling quite calm (which I?m most definitely generally not) and now the thought of laying prone on a bed without lovely soothing water OR water, in agony and no option for spinal block pain relief has got me in a bit of a panic!

Sorry, this is a bit long :(

Firstly, as if you have to book a room, that's so weird. How do you even go about that? Arrange for when your contractions are going to start?

Anyway, ime, you can start in a midwife led unit using a birth pool, but if you really feel you need more pain relief and want an epidural they will just take you round to the other unit. That's how it usually works where there are two units.

I started in the bith centre (couldn't use the pool as they were in use). Then when it looked like they needed to use a ventouse, they just wheeled me on my bed round to the delivery suite. They would have done the same if I'd needed an epidural.

Annoying isn't it. Luckily i found this out early via MN.

Try to focus on the things you can control (eg your reaction to not being able to have a pool) rather than the things you can't (eg pool being available). You might find it useful to run through all scenarios and how you could make the best of them and what would help you to feel calm and relaxed.

Lots of places seem to have bathrooms so if you can't go in the pool you could still go in the bath perhaps.

Sorry, but I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you think you can try "a bit of this, bit of that" in most hospitals. However, it is also unlikely that wherever you will be made to make a decision now that will result in agony for you later with no other options.

I also think you may have got the wrong end of the stick about about booking a room. I suspect you have been asked to make a choice as to whether you will be going into the medical ward or the MW led ward. You can't book a room for birth, unless they are holding it just for you for potentially weeks!

Could you have a homebirth and hire your own pool? Then it would be guarenteed?

I am that your mw has not mentioned your options before now. I am assuming that you are low risk so both/all options are available to you...?

I agree re room booking. Is it the case that you can say you want to go in the birth centre but if they happen to be full, then you have to go on the normal ward?

Can you speak to your mw soon about this, rather than wait until your next appointment? It may be worth writing down all your questions and concerns for when you go (and maybe look at wrigint a birth plan) so mw can help you decide what is best based on the facilities available in your area.

At our hospital we have a midwife led unit adjacent to the traditional delivery ward so it is easy to transfer to more medicalised care if you need an epidural. Our midwife led unit is only a few years old and also has just one pool. Our midwife has told us that in the few years it has been open she can count on one hand the amount of times someone has wanted the pool when it's already in use. Apparently it's used very infrequently. This is a hospital that serves a huge area and has about 5000 births a year. I wouldn't get too worried.

My hospital is similar - has a midwife led unit and a consultant one and there's only one birth pool. You can't book it in advance, but when I spoke to my midwife about it she said if you let them know either when you call before you go in, or when you are in triage that you would like to use it then they will do their best to make sure it's available. Also as someone else said although there's only one pool there are lots of baths so i imagine your hospital might be the same.

Hi,

Nope, she definitely said you have to book (DH commented on it on way out)Also have no clue how this works, she then quickly moved onto something else don't want too many people to know maybe?

Feel a bit that none of this has ever been mentioned to me but also feel a bloody stupid idiot for not asking the questions at previous appts.

This is my first so I assumed the MW would lead the way in all of this. I had to get Antenatal class dates out of her, this wasn't ever mentioned to me (neither was a pre labour hosp visit - I just saw a poster in her room)

She's quite matter of fact and is nice but I feel like this should have been discussed with me by now. However, what some of you have said about just being wheeled into the other unit if needs be has reassured me slightly, so thanks!

Still very upset that I may not get to try the pool (but am a bit too scared to try a homebirth newton, thanks for suggestion though) :)

I think when she said you had to book she meant you had to book to use the MLU unit - not that you had to book a day and time you would go there.

Why are you scared to try and homebirth? TBH, unless you are a long transfer from hospital, it is your best chance of trying 'a bit of this and a bit of that'. You could try the pool and, if it all gets too much, transfer in for epidural.

I think that water as pain relief is often over-sold. Yes, if you are not at home it is sadly frequently not available. Either because the pool is full, or the midwife on duty isn't trained in it. Or you aren't the right dilation... It is great, but home is the only place you can guarantee it will be available.

Ours is a bit like this except in our town we only have a MLU. If you are high risk (which my bmi alone states I am) then you lose the MLU and have to go to the maternity ward in a hospital 30 mins drive away.

I was a bit annoyed that I was am refused the use of a pool due to my BMI. (was 35.5 when I fell pregnant bearing in mind I was a size 14-16 and more stocky than fat and my BP has still at 40 weeks pregnant never been higher than 120/70)

I would of liked to be given chance to deliver in the MLU because my parents are divorced so with PIL we have three sets of grandparents who need to come and visit, visiting is 2 a bed max, and a hour long. So my DM, SD, SM, DF, FIL, MIL are going to have to arrange lifts/drive through for 20 mins. Parking is also 5 pounds per hour with no half hour option. I know its not a massive deal but its something that has upset me because my parents are a bit childish in the "he saw you first, I wanted to be first" kind of way.

The MLU is literally five minutes drive across my town with bus links. :(

I booked into the MLU at Birmingham women's for my dd2. Just the unit not my room as couldn't guarantee going 8 days over a second time!:) It was full when we arrived but 5 hours later when Dh went for a wander (to phone with good news) everyone else had shipped off to the CLU for epidurals and things. Maybe say where you are going and someone with recent experience can advise? HTH

Don't set your heart on a particular method of birth as disappointment with how the birth went is a major factor in PND. Your birth plan is merely a wish list should everything go to plan and you need to accept that.

I wanted a water birth as did everyone else in my NCT group. I don't think one of us got it, for various reasons, including a mad rush on babies being born (the hospital had to close to new patients, pity the women who had to transfer to the next town).

I didn't even get a sniff of a birth pool as spotting meconium in my waters meant I was whisked away for immediate monitoring in the consultant led unit. Then I had an EMCS. I don't think anyone even looked at my birth plan.

I'm getting in all the stuff for a home birth and then if the pool is free going to the MLU at the last minute if I want to. I really wanted a pool so this seemed like the best way to ensure one was at least free. Of course, still might not be able to use it if the baby has other ideas!

I'm confused about what people mean about 'booking' into a certain unit. When I went into labour I just called the MLU and said what was happening and could I come in. There was never a question of whether I'd pre-arranged to go there or to the CLU. I'm wondering whether things have changed at all in the last two years.

It may depend where you live ItsMy. Round by me, if you want to use the MLU you have to be assessed as low risk and then the relevant paperwork completed for the MLU. If you havne't done it in advance you are likely to be turned away as they are worried about someone high risk labouring there and being uninsured.

Here, it works (or it did 2 years ago) that you're assessed as low or high risk at your booking appt. Obviously that could change during your pregnancy, but assuming you stay low risk or he changed to low risk then you can just go to either the MLU or CLU depending on what you want, but you just call/go to whichever you wan when you're in labour. You can't then move from the CLU to MLU during labour but you can move from the MLU to CLU if you're deemed to need it for whatever reason.

It seems to make a lot of sense the way it works and means you don't need to make any set decisions until during labour.

The system where I live meant that once I said I wanted to give birth at the local hospital (which has both MLU and CLU), I automatically got booked into the MLU at that hospital.

Once antenatal scans/tests showed that things weren't straightforward, the 'booking' got transferred to the CLU, as MLU's can only accept low risk pregnancies.

As I understand it, the midwife booking me into the MLU / CLU meant that the MLU / CLU had me logged onto the system, so that when I arrived in labour, they had all my information to hand. No particular rooms allocated ahead of time, as they can't know in advance how many women will be in labour at any one time.

The MLU didn't have a pool anyway, but the room I was in during labour was a full on-suite one with a bath. If the birth suite rooms have on-suite baths, then maybe you could try that for a while instead if the birthing pool is in use?

ItsmyLast - You can make the decision on the day here too, sort of. If you have been accepted to and booked in for the MLU, you can turn up at the CLU if you prefer (e.g if you decide on the day you want more pain relief than the MLU can offer). You can obviously transfer during labour too. It's just that anyone wanting to have the option of using the MLU has to have made all the arrangements in advance.